Vegan Thanksgiving: Quinoa with candied yams

Breakfast: Coffee and a vegan muffin

Lunch: Grilled veggie panini with salad

Dinner: Vegan nut roast, mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy and quinoa with candied yams, peas and carrots

So you think Thanksgiving, you think turkey, potatoes, yams (or sweet potatoes if you're British) and gravy. Then you think, "Dammit, I'm vegan."

Then you think "Hang on, lose the turkey and we're set!"

Yes folks; vegan Thanksgiving CAN be wonderful! Not only do you not pass out after dinner due to Turkey Tiredness, but you can have much more exciting flavours and still enjoy that feeling of decadence that Thanksgiving is all about.

For our first vegan Thanksgiving we made nut roast, mushroom gravy, creamy mashed potatoes (yep, that's them there in the back of the photo) and this: quinoa with candied yams, peas and carrots. I loved this as it's got some nutritional value but still includes the staple vegetables of this holiday. Thanks to Andy for the inspiration!

You'll need:
(Feeds a few when paired with everything above!)

1 large yam / sweet potato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 1/2 cups veg stock
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp pine nuts

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius
Put the yam cubes in a baking dish
Mix together the olive oil and sugar, then drizzle it over the yams
Shake the grated ginger over the top
Put this in the oven for 20-30 minutes, stirring often, and remove when done
Place the quinoa in heavy bottomed pan, and set this on a medium heat to toast the quinoa seeds
After 5 mintes, add in the carrot and the stock
Stir and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the stock is almost absorbed
Add in the frozen peas and cook until all stock is absorbed and the carrots are tender - another 5 minutes usually
Take off the heat and stir in the candied yams
Stir in the lemon juice, sprinkle the pine nuts on top and then serve with the above foods

You would think that it would be difficult to overeat at vegan Thanksgiving. Thanks to dishes like this, you'd be wrong.

Of course, the traditional thing to do would be to get a pumpkin pie, but honestly, I would have imploded had I tried to eat any more food after this meal. There's always tomorrow though.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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